Ryan Newman - NASCAR Cup Preview - Texas

October 28, 2008

Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, has one win at Texas Motor Speedway in NASCAR Cup Series competition. The win came in the spring of 2003. Newman started third and led 77 laps en route to victory.

In addition to his Cup win at Texas, Newman has two poles, three top-five and three top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile tri-oval.

Newman has two consecutive top-five finishes at Texas. He scored a fifth-place result at Texas in the 2007 fall race and he followed that up with a fourth-place effort in April this year. In this year's race, Newman struggled with a tight race car and even fell a lap down to the leaders at one point, but Newman and his team refused to give up. After Newman fought to get his lap back, he gained six positions in the final 10 laps to finish fourth.

Following three consecutive qualifying rainouts, the driver who made a name for himself due to his qualifying prowess would like to have a chance to turn the quickest lap at time trials on Friday at Texas. Newman is tied with Bobby Labonte and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for the most NASCAR Cup pole positions at Texas with two. In 2005, Newman scored back-to-back poles at Texas. Newman has 43 poles in his Cup career. His most recent pole position came at Phoenix International Raceway in April.

Last weekend in Atlanta, Newman became the 19th driver to win in all three of NASCAR's top series. Newman has 13 Cup wins (257 starts), seven Nationwide victories (39 starts) and one truck win (one start) to his credit.

Crew chief Roy McCauley and Newman have been close to victory at Texas. In the November 2005 Nationwide Series race, Newman started on the pole and led 122 of the 200 laps before an untimely caution flag after a green flag pit stop left Newman one lap down. He finished in 16th place.

RYAN NEWMAN QUOTES ON:RACING AT TEXAS: "I always look forward to racing at Texas. It's a track that I've always liked although it doesn't necessarily show in the finishes. It's a smooth, fast race track and there are multiple grooves, so it is fun to race. The track has matured and aged to the point it has gotten better and better each time that we come back. It's a place that we look forward to. We won there in 2003, but we hadn't been that good there since - until our last two times there. We had a good run last fall - obviously a different car -and we ended up with a good finish there this past spring. In the spring race, we started the race just "off," but we kept adjusting on it. We were able to make up a lap and then we were in the right place at the right time to come home with a top-five finish. Hopefully, we'll go back there even better than we were in the spring."

THREE RACES REMAINING: "We started off the year with a bang (at Daytona) and it would be nice to be able to finish it with a bang. We have three races to do it, and they are all tracks where we have had good runs in the No. 12 Alltel Dodge. Earlier this year, we were fourth at Texas. We won the pole at Phoenix, and I'm pretty confident we would have had a solid run there, but we had a motor issue that took us out of the race early. And at Homestead last year, we started second and finished 18th. I have had a good career at Penske Racing and I am grateful for everything the team has done for me. I would like to say thanks and be able to leave on a high note, and scoring a string of good finishes here at the end of the season would be the perfect way to do just that."

ROY MCCAULEY QUOTES ON:THE KEY TO RUNNING WELL AT TEXAS: "You can't get tight coming off the corners of turn two and turn four. If you are tight coming off the corners, that means the car will lose all of its speed and be dead slow down the straightaways and that is not something you want on a track that is as fast at Texas. We really had to battle a tight-handling race car in the spring race, but we worked and adjusted on the car and were able to finish fourth in the end. We're going back with that information and hopefully that will help us to combat the problem from the get-go. Ryan really likes Texas, so we would like to have another strong run."

CHASSIS NOTES:PRS-580: The No. 12 Alltel Dodge for the Dickies 500 is the same car Newman drove at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. Newman started third and finished 13th in that race. Newman also piloted the car at Charlotte last month, where he started 16th and finished 21st.

PRS-558: The backup No. 12 Dodge is the same car that Newman drove to a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this season. It has served as the backup at several tracks this year.

UPCOMING EVENTS:10/31: Ryan Newman will sign copies of his book- Pit Road Pets: NASCAR Stars and Their Pets - at his souvenir hauler following NASCAR Cup Series qualifying (at about 5:30 p.m. CT). Newman will sign up to two copies of Pit Road Pets in addition to one other item per person during the autograph session. Tickets for the book signing will be distributed to the first 100 fans with a book at the souvenir rig beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday.

12/13:The Ryan Newman Foundation Charity Fishing Tournament will be held at Queen's Landing in Mooresville, N.C. Fans are invited to join NASCAR stars, musical artists and professional fishermen for the charity event. Registration in the tournament for a team of two competitors is $150 on or before Nov. 13 or $200 after Nov. 13. Fishermen may also enter a Big Fish Contest for $40 per team. The maximum is 250 teams. For complete event details, tournament rules, or to register, visit www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.

Team Penske is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports and celebrated its 50th Anniversary during the 2016 season. Dating back to its first race in the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, cars owned and prepared by Team Penske have produced more than 440 major race wins, over 500 pole positions and 29 National Championships across open-wheel, stock car and sports car racing competition. In its storied history, the team has also earned 16 Indianapolis 500 victories, two Daytona 500 Championships, a Formula 1 win and overall victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Over 80 drivers have raced for Team Penske over the years.